State asks jury to keep molester behind bars

A twice-convicted child molester on the verge of release from prison probably will victimize another young girl if allowed to go free, a state prosecutor told a McHenry County jury Tuesday as a trial over whether the man should stay behind bars indefinitely got under way.

State authorities are asking the jury to declare George K. Martin a sexually violent person, a verdict that would allow the state to keep him locked up despite his prison sentence running out more than 17 months ago.

Martin, 30, formerly of Crystal Lake, has been in prison since April 2004 when he pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for molesting a 5-year-old girl in 2002.

That assault came just three months after Martin was paroled after serving part of a 12-year sentence on charges he repeatedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in Chicago. He also spent several years in a Florida treatment center for juvenile sex offenders after molesting a 3-year-old girl when he was 14.

"He has a well-established history of committing these crimes against little girls," Assistant Illinois Attorney General Joelle Marasco told jurors Tuesday. "His thoughts and behaviors are so much a part of him that it affects his ability to control them."

In order to keep Martin incarcerated, authorities are using the Illinois Sexually Violent Persons commitment Act, a law that allows indefinite imprisonment of a convicted sex offender if the state can show that person has a mental defect and is substantially likely to re-offend.

Martin attorney David Giesinger on Tuesday compared the state's case against his client to a weather forecast that may or may not be accurate.

"We're not talking about his past, we're talking about the future," he said. "No one can tell you for certain that George Martin will re-offend."

If jurors side with the state, Martin will be placed in the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services and held while undergoing treatment until a court and mental health professionals believe he no longer is likely to commit another sex crime.

The trial is expected to wrap up this afternoon.